


Or You Can Just Get Old

by sillylourry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Pining, they work at a video store
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-06
Updated: 2014-04-06
Packaged: 2018-01-18 10:09:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1424614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sillylourry/pseuds/sillylourry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prompt was: Write a story that contains:</p><p>-an altercation<br/>-girl scouts<br/>-breakfast with a grandparent<br/>-a bumblebee</p><p>and I went with it</p><p>or the one where Harry is grumpy all the time and Louis likes to quote Billy Joel songs</p>
            </blockquote>





	Or You Can Just Get Old

**Author's Note:**

> This is my baby and I am very proud of it. Also if you want to know what song they're singing or something just leave a comment and I'll put a whole list up with links and stuff at some point. Also thanks for reading!
> 
> There's also probably mistakes and I'm sorry for those please ignore them.

Harry never really liked the color blue.

It was the color of the carpet in his bedroom that he always begged his mother to change. It is the color of the ocean, and whenever he went he would have sand stuck between his toes for weeks. It is the color blueberries and blueberries are his least favorite food.

And last but definitely not least, it is the color of Louis Tomlinson's eyes, and Harry doesn't like Louis Tomlinson.

~~~~

Harry's alarm clock starts beeping the second it turns 6:00. He groans and rolls onto his side, throwing his arms over his ears and trying to keep as much of the sound out as possible. After about a minute, he decides it's not worth it.

He throws the warm blanket off of him and swings his legs onto the floor. He hits his alarm clock off, but he doesn't hit it hard enough for it to break, so that means it's going to wake him up again tomorrow morning, which is something that puts Harry in a bad mood before his day has even officially started.

Trying to keep his eyes open, he slowly walks to his closet and pulls out his work shirt. He picks up a pair of black pants off of the floor and strips off his pajamas. As quickly as he possibly can, he pulls on the new outfit, not wanting to stand naked in the cold for too long. When he's dressed, he grabs a pair of socks out of his sock drawer and walks into the living room.

The light streaming in from the living room window temporarily blinds him. He squeezes his eyes shut and tries his best to put his socks on. When he thinks his eyes are ready for the light again, he opens them back up.

He slips on his shoes, grabs his keys, phone, and wallet off of the counter, and walks out the front door. He presses the black unlock button on his keys, and hears his car beep and unlock. He opens the door, climbs in, and throws on his seatbelt.

It takes a minute to readjust the seat and mirror, because the day before he had let Niall drive his car. Niall is significantly shorter than him and likes to sit straight up when he's driving, so Harry has to tilt his seat most of the way back before he is in a comfortable position that allows him to half sleep/half drive his way to work.

When he's done, he closes the car door and puts the key in the ignition, turning it to the right. The car roars awake. He backs out of his driveway and begins his 7 minutes commute to work.

"You're late." Niall says when Harry walks through the door.

Harry sighs. "I'm 2 minutes earlier than I was yesterday." He says, walking into the staff room and grabbing his name tag off of the name tag shelf.

"Which was 20 minutes after your shift started." Niall says, leaning against the doorframe. Harry pins his name tag to his shirt and begins walking to the door. Niall moves out of his way and lets him stand behind the counter, in front of the register.

Harry drums his fingers against the counter and looks out at the empty video store. "It's not like anybody rents movies anymore." He grumbles.

"Exactly!" Niall says, leaning forward onto his toes. "Which is why we need chipper people like you to be here when they do decide to, that way maybe they'll want to come back."

"Would you want to come back if I helped you find a movie?" Harry asks.

Niall shakes his head. "Not even a little bit." He answers. Harry laughs.

Niall pats him on the back and leaves to put some returned movies back onto the shelves. Harry pulls his phone out of his pocket and taps in his password. The phone unlocks, pulling up his twitter. He scrolls up to the beginning of his timeline and refreshes his feed. A few new tweets come up, but nothing too exciting.

Liam walks out from the back room and sighs when he sees Harry. "Harry, you look exhausted." He says, waking over and standing next to him.

"I'm always exhausted." Harry admits. "It's my natural state." Liam smirks.

"How bout you go on a coffee run?" He suggests. "I'll cover for you."

Harry thinks about it for a few seconds before deciding that standing in line in a crowded coffeeshop is probably a lot better than standing in an empty video store. "Fine." He says, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "What do you want?"

"A vanilla latte." He answers. "And Niall will probably want a mocha."

"Zayn?" Harry asks, walking to the door. Liam shakes his head.

"Zayn has the day off." He says. Harry nods and opens the door. He pats his pocket, making sure his wallet and keys are still in there. When he hears a jingle and sees the outline of a square against the fabric of his pants, he steps out of the video store and walks to his car.

The Starbucks can easily be walked to but its even easier to drive there, so Harry pulls out of the parking lot of the video store and into the parking lot of the Starbucks, which is across the street. He finds a spot close to the door and parks his car.

He sees table of Girl Scout cookies, two very bored looking Girl Scouts, and an even more bored looking mother set up next to the door. Hoping that they won't see him, he shoves his hands into his pockets, looks down, and tries to walk as fast as he can.

His plan doesn't work and the girls see him. The leap up from their chairs and run up to him. "Hi!" The younger one says.

"Would you like to buy a box of cookies?" The older one asks, motioning to the table.

Harry glances nervously at the table, then sighs. "Fine." He says.

The girls squeal with delight and run over to stand behind the table. Harry starts walking and gets there at the same time as another guy does. "Can I help you?" The older girl asks the guy.

"What would you like?" The younger one asks Harry.

"I'll have a box of thin mints please." The guys says.

"I'll have a box of thin mints too." Harry says. The girl nods and goes to look through their collection of cookies.

The older girl grabs a box of thin mints and hands it to the guy. "Thank you." He says, handing her three dollars.

"You're welcome." She says. The younger girl walks back over to Harry empty handed.

"I'm sorry." She says. "That was our last box of thin mints."

Harry sighs in frustration. "Ok." He says, beginning to walk away. The girl panics.

"But we have every other type of cookie!" She says.

Harry shakes his head. "No thank you." He says.

The guy with the thin mints, who stood by the door of the Starbucks, watching the whole thing, walks back over to the table. "Here." He says, handing Harry the box. "They don't mean as much to me as they apparently do to you." Harry hands the box back to him.

"It's fine." He says. "They're just cookies."

The thin mint guy laughs. "I know they're just cookies, but I'm not sure you do." He says, handing Harry back the box. "I prefer the lemon ones anyway. I only got the thin mints because my girlfriend likes them."

Harry snatches the box out of the thin mint guys hand and walks into the Starbucks. There are only three people in front of him, so hopefully he will be out of line before the guy walks in.

The second person in line ends up taking years to order, so Harry is forced to stand next to thin mint guy in line. He looks straight ahead and tries to pretend like the other guy isn't there.

"Hi." Thin mint guy says, bumping Harry's arm with his elbow.

"Hi." Harry mutters.

"I don't know why you have an attitude with me when you were the one who ended up with the cookies." The guys says. "But I'm willing to look past it and start all over. I'm Louis." He says, extending his hand out. Harry shakes it.

"I'm Harry." He says. Louis smiles.

"Nice to meet you, Harry." He says. Harry forces himself to smile back and hopes that Louis doesn't realize that it's fake. Or maybe he does want Louis to know that it's fake because then maybe Louis will stop talking to him.

Whether Louis knows or not, he continues the conversation. "It's a beautiful day out today." He says.

"A little bright." Harry says, stepping forward in line when the person in front of him steps up to the counter.

"That's what's nice about it." Louis says. His phone starts buzzing in his pocket. He reaches in and pulls it out. "Oh, it's my girlfriend. Excuse me." He says, tapping on his phone and putting it up to his ear. "Hello." He says.

The person in front of Harry walks away and it's Harry turns to put in his order. He steps up to the counter and looks up at the menu. "I'll have a vanilla latte, an iced mocha, and whatever you have that will make me the most awake." He says. The girl behind the counter laughs. She grabs three cups and starts writing his orders on them.

"Will that be all?" She asks. He nods. She types them into the register. "Ok your total for today will be $12.33." She says. He nods and reaches into his pocket. He pulls out his wallet and looks through his cards until he finds a Starbucks gift card that he's pretty sure has enough money on it to cover the total. He hands it to the girl and she scans it.

"You have 12 cents left on it now." She says. "Would you like to keep it our toss it?" She asks.

"Toss it." Harry answers. She nods and throws it into the trashcan next to her. A receipt starts to print up.

"And what's the name?" She asks, tearing the receipt off and handing it to Harry.

"Harry." He says. She smiles and writes it on the cups.

Harry steps out of line and finds an empty table in the back of the Starbucks. He watches as Louis hangs up the phone and makes his order. After a minute, he steps out of line. He looks around the room, probably looking for an empty table or stool. When his eyes land on Harry, he grins and walks over. Harry sighs and slumps further down into his seat.

"Mind if I sit here?" Louis asks.

"You're gonna sit here no matter what my answer is." He says. Louis laughs and nods his head.

"You know me too well." He says, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

"I don't know you at all, actually." Harry states. Louis sets his phone on the table. He opens up his music and begins looking through his songs. "Didn't your parents ever tell you not to talk to strangers?" Harry asks.

Louis nods. "All parents tell their children that." He says. "I think it's in some type of parents handbook that all parents get when they first become parents." Harry smirks.

"How come you're not listening to them?" He asks. "Do you like not listening to your parents?"

"You give in to your desire when the stranger comes along." Louis says, continuing to scroll through his music.

Harry thinks about what Louis said for a moment. He recognizes it. He's heard it before. It's on the tip of his tongue and he feels as if he's about to figure it out right when the girl calls his name.

"A vanilla latte for Harry." She says, setting the cup down on the pick up counter. Harry scoots back his chair and stands up. He looks at Louis one last time before grabbing the box of cookies off the table, turning around, and walking over to pick up Liam's drink. When he gets there, the other two drinks are ready as well. "Have a good day." The girl says, smiling at Harry. Harry returns the smile.

He walks past Louis on his way out. "You quoted a Billy Joel song." He says. Louis smiles and looks up at him.

"I did." He says. "And a pretty obscure Billy Joel song too. You should be proud of yourself Harry. Eat those thin mints with your head held high, you deserve it." He looks back down at his phone and goes back to scrolling through his music. Harry shakes his head, smiling, and walks out of the Starbucks.

He walks to his car and sets the drinks and cookies on top of it. He pulls his keys out of his pocket and unlocks the door. Louis steps out of the Starbucks with two drinks in his hands. He smiles at Harry and starts walking the opposite direction, towards his car. Harry blushes slightly, takes the drinks and cookies off the top of his car, and sets them down in the passenger seat. He quickly climbs in and shuts the door behind him. He puts on his seatbelt, starts the car, and begins his journey back to work.

"You look more awake." Liam says when Harry walks through the doors of the video store.

Harry nods. "The coffee really helped." He lies. Liam grins.

"Good." He says, talking his cup from Harry. Niall appears from the horror movie section and runs over to them. He takes his cup from Harry and takes a long sip.

When he's done, he throws his arm around Harry's shoulder. "Harry, I'm glad you're in a better mood. So glad, that I'm going to pretend like this mocha isn't iced." He says, removing his arm and walking back to the horror movies.

Liam takes a sip of his latte. He gives Harry a thumbs up before walking into the back room, where Harry assumes he will probably resume his 8th check to make sure all of the movies that were supposed to be returned are there.

Harry finishes drinking his coffee and throws it into the trash can next to him. He opens the box and thin mints and starts eating them. Niall hears him opening the box and walks back over. He grabs a handful and leaves again.

The rest of the day goes by slowly.

Harry's good mood only lasts a few hours so when his 10 hour shift is over, he is back to being the grumpy Harry that he was when he woke up. He throws away the now empty box of thin mints and says goodbye to Liam and Niall.

When he gets home, he sheds his clothes and takes a shower. After his shower, he orders a pizza. The pizza guys delivers the pizza after only 20 minutes, which means it's not free and Harry is always disappointed when he actually has to pay for his pizza.

He throws himself down onto the couch with the pizza box next to him on the floor. He digs for the remote in between the couch cushions and ends up finding about $3 worth of change, but no remote. Since he's too lazy to actually get up and look for it, he grabs his phone off of the coffee table and unlocks it. He opens the YouTube app and types The Stranger into the search bar.

A list of videos come up. He taps on the first one and it only takes a second to load. The song starts playing a few seconds later. Harry sets his phone on his stomach and grabs a slice of pizza out of the box.

A few hours and many refreshes later, Harry decides to go to bed. He buys The Stranger on iTunes so that it can replay itself with him having to refresh it.

The fourth or fifth time it repeats, Harry starts to think that maybe what he's doing is pathetic.

He pushes that thought out of his head. He's not listening to the song because Louis quoted it, he's listening to the song because he likes it. It's just a coincidence that Louis also likes the song.

And it's then and there that Harry decides that Louis is just a stranger who is kind of annoying and not someone who he wants to see again. And he doesn't really like thin mints and he definitely doesn't like Louis.

~~~~

"You're such a joy to hang around, you know that?" Niall says, resting his elbow on the counter and his head in his hand. Harry rolls his eyes.

"You're the one who decided to be friends with me." He says.

Niall shakes his head. "Not true." He says. "I decided to become friends with happy high school Harry. College Harry was still pretty cool. But post college/post Caroline Harry isn't someone I want to hang around all the time." He lifts his head off his hand and pokes Harry's arm. "You need to date again."

Harry bats his hand away. "No I don't." He says.

Niall turns towards Harry and puts his hands on his shoulders. "Listen to me." He says, looking Harry right in the eyes. "I get being sad about the break for a little while. But Harry, it's been over a year. I don't want you to let your life go by without actually living it."

Harry shakes Niall hands off. "Don't worry about me. I'm living my life to the fullest, I promise." He says.

"I don't believe you but honestly I'm too tired to really argue with you right now. I'll let Zayn do it when him and Liam get back from their lunch break." He says.

"I'm looking forward to it."

Niall is about to respond when the bell above the door rings. They both turn and face the door. Two people walk into the video store. The first person is a girl who looks about Harry's age. She has dark wavy hair and an annoyed look on her face. The second person is Louis.

Harry freezes. He had spent a good two days trying to get Louis out of his mind. He told himself that it was pathetic to want to talk to him again because he was just a person who he had talked to for about 10 minutes. He was a stranger. But, he was a stranger with really pretty brown hair and small hands and a personality that for some reason draws Harry in.

"I'm going to organize the movies in the back." He whispers to Niall.

"Why? We hardly ever have people come in. You're the cash register guy, go take their money." He says, slapping Harry on the back and pushing him over to the register.

Louis and the girl look through the movies for a few minutes. Harry starts to hope that they won't find what they're looking for, and will leave without coming to talk to him, when Louis looks up and sees him. He smiles and says something to the girl. She nods.

Louis jogs over to Harry. Harry takes a deep breath and puts on a fake smile. "Hiya." Louis says, coming to a stop in front of the counter. "I didn't know you worked here."

Harry nods. "It's nice. We get like 20 people in here a day so most of the time we just mess around." He says, drumming his fingers on the counter.

"I love video stores." Louis says. "I always find the best movies in them."

"Like what?" Harry asks.

Louis scrunches his eyebrows together and thinks for a moment. "Spaceballs." He answers. Harry chuckles.

"The Star Wars spoof?" He asks.

Louis nods. "Yeah! I watched it with my buddy Stan. It was really funny." He says, turning and looking at the girl, who is still looking through the movies with an annoyed look on her face. "Hey, can you help me find a movie?" Louis asks.

"Sure." Harry says.

"We want to watch a holiday movie, but nothing too Christmasy. You know, since it's not Christmas time."

Harry goes through all of the holiday movies that he has ever seen in his head. "Love Actually." He suggests, after a new seconds.

"I've never seen it, but I'll take your word for it." Louis says. "Hey babe." He calls to the girl. She looks up. "Can you get Love Actually?" He asks. She nods and scans the movies. When she finds Love Actually, she grabs it and waves it in the air. Louis claps his hands. "Alright we'll take it." He says.

The girl walks over to them and drops the movie onto the counter. Harry picks it up and scans it. A price pops up on the screen. "Alright that will be $4." He says. Louis pulls out his wallet and drops four ones onto the counter.

Harry scoops them up and puts them in the cash register. He gets a plastic bag from behind the counter and puts the movie inside. "Thanks." Louis says, taking the bag from Harry.

"Enjoy the movie." Harry says. Louis smiles and him and the girl leave the store. Niall glances at Harry.

"Harry." He says.

"Yeah?" Harry asks, closing the resister and looking at Niall. Niall smiles. "What?" Harry asks.

"The movie cost $5." Niall says.

"And?" Harry asks.

"You only charged him 4." Niall states. Harry looks at the cash register and sees that it does say $5.00. He sighs and puts his head in his hands. After a second, he lifts it back up.

"Yeah well maybe we would get more customers if this place wasn't so expensive." He says, walking into the staff room. "I'm taking my break." He calls to Niall.

"Whatever." Niall calls back.

Harry sits down at the table and bangs his head on it a few times for really no reason but it makes him feel better so he's glad he did it. When the headache is bad enough to make it impossible to think about Louis, he rests his head nicely down on the cold table top.

Louis is just a slightly annoying boy who Harry has only talked to twice and isn't even friends with and Harry definitely doesn't like Louis.

~~~~

Harry goes through all the radio stations until he finds the one that's playing the most depressing song. He sits back and continues driving until the sad and whininess is too much for even him. He shakes his head and changes the channel. A Billy Joel song starts playing on an throwback channel. Harry smiles and leaves the radio on that station.

It starts to rain. Pretty hard. So hard, that Harry has to turn on his windshield wipers, lean forward, and squint his eyes, to even have a chance of being able to see the road. Driving should not be an Olympic sport.

He stops at a stoplight. While waiting for it to turn green, he looks to the side and sees a figure walking in the rain. Usually, he wouldn't stop and give random people rides, but the wind is strong enough to make his car shake, and the rain is coming down hard enough to make it hard to think, and he feels bad. So, he rolls down his window and calls out to the figure.

"Need a ride?" He asks. The person looks over at him. They seem to think about it for a second before jogging over to the passenger side and getting in.

"Thanks." They say, pulling the hood of their jacket down.

And of course it's Louis. Harry tries his best not to let out a groan. Louis smiles at the radio and turns it up as the Billy Joel song enters it's last chorus.

"I love this song." He says, singing along softly to himself.

And Harry likes the song too, so he sings along as well, trying to ignore the fact that Louis actually has a really good voice because he doesn't need another reason to want to be friends with Louis.

"Sooner or later, it comes down to fate. I might as well be the one. You know that only the good die young." Louis sings

The song ends and the station plays a song that neither of them know so Harry decides to turn the radio off. He listens to the sound of the rain hitting the roof of the car and tries to concentrate on driving. "Where do you need me to drop you off?" He asks. Louis shrugs.

"Wherever honestly." He admits. "I broke up with my girlfriend and she kind of threw me out so you can just drop me off at a coffeeshop or something." He says.

Harry sighs. "You can crash at my place tonight, if you want." He says, immediately regretting it because he knows that if Louis stays over at his house then they're definitely going to become friends and he told himself a long time ago that he didn't want to be friends with Louis.

"You know." Louis says. "Normally I would pretend to say no and then you would insist and then I'd pretend to cave in but I think I'll skip over all that tonight and just say yes, I would love to crash at your house tonight."

Harry nods and continues to drive towards his house. When they get there, he parks in the garage, which is something he almost never does, but he isn't in the mood to get soaking wet and Louis is still shivering from his walk in the rain earlier and it would be extremely rude to make him have to start the drying process all over. They both hop out of the car and Harry opens the door leading into his house. Louis wipes his feet on the welcome mat, and walks in.

"Thanks again for letting me stay here." He says.

"Sure." Harry says, tossing his wallet and keys onto the kitchen counter. Louis smiles and stands awkwardly in the middle of the living room. His clothes are still soaking wet. Harry thinks about it for a few seconds before deciding to let Louis wear something of his. "I'll find you something to sleep in." He says, walking into his room. He comes back a minute later with the smallest pair of pajama pants he owns and a shirt from high school.

Louis smiles and takes the clothes from Harry. "Thanks." He says. "Um. Where can I change?" He asks.

"Oh." Harry says. "Uh. In the bathroom. It's right there." He points to a door next to his bedroom. Louis walks to the bathroom and shuts the door behind him. Harry sighs and throws himself onto the couch.

He grabs the remote and turns on the Tv. He flips through a couple of channels before stopping on Men in Black 3, which is not as good as the first one, but a whole lot better than the second.

Louis comes out of the bathroom a minute later and sits on the other couch. He brings his knees up and rests his chin on them and wraps his arms around his legs. "Hey Harry?" He asks.

"Yeah?" Harry answers, turning down the volume on the tv.

"Do you want to be friends with me or not?" Louis asks, tracing that patterns on his pajama pants with his fingers.

Harry closes his eyes for a second and takes a deep breath. "Yeah." He says. "I do."

Louis laughs, but it doesn't seem like a genuine laugh. "Then why do you always seem annoyed whenever you see me?" He asks.

And Harry doesn't really know what to say because he hasn't had that conversation with himself yet. "I don't like being friends with people." He says.

Louis smiles and hides his mouth in his knees. "I don't believe you." He says. "Everybody likes having friends."

Harry shakes his head. "Friends leave."

"Not always." Louis argues.

"No, not always." Harry agrees. "But out of all the friends I've ever had, only 3 of them have stayed."

Louis nods. "I don't know you well enough to guarantee that I'm going to stay." He says.

"Yeah. I know." Harry says, looking at the tv, trying to make it look like you doesn't care as much as he does.

"But let's be friends." Louis says. "We keep running into each other and at some point we're going to become friends whether you like it or not." He gets up off the couch and sits next to Harry on the other one.

Harry sighs and turns his whole body so that he can face Louis, not the Tv. "We don't have to make it Facebook official or anything, right?" He asks.

Louis starts laughing. Harry smiles. "No, I don't even have a Facebook." Louis says.

Harry tilts his head to the side. "You may be the only person in the world." He says.

Louis shrugs. "I prefer being friends with people in person." He says. "Facebook gives people an excuse to stop making an effort."

"Or you can start talking to people who you haven't seen in years." Harry says.

"In the time that you have had a Facebook, have you ever started talking to old friends?" Louis asks, pulling his legs up onto the couch and sitting cross legged.

"No." Harry admits.

"No." Louis repeats.

Harry smiles and turns his body back toward the tv. He turns up the volume and sits back. Louis continues to have his body facing Harry, but turns his head to watch the movie.

When the movie is over, they both decide to go to bed. Harry gets Louis a few blankets out of his back closet and gives him one of the pillows off the bed. Louis thanks him again. They both say goodnight, and Harry walks to his room.

He shuts the door and changes into his pajamas. He dives face first into his bed. He hopes that he will be able to fall asleep right way, but his mind decides to think a million thoughts a minute, making it difficult for him to sleep.

After a half hour, he forces all of his thoughts out of his mind and just focuses on the one where he hopes Louis isn't a murderer who pretends to be kicked out of his girlfriends house in order to get free entries into his next victims apartment.

And that's the thought that sicks with Harry and scares him to the point where he gets up from his bed and walks back into the living room. Louis lays, completely still, on the longer of the two couches. Harry tiptoes to the shorter one and sits down.

"Harry?" Louis asks, sitting up. Harry doesn't move. "Harry, I saw you walk in here."

"I'm just making sure you're not going to kill me." Harry whispers. Louis chuckles. He curls his legs close to his belly and makes room on the couch.

"Well if you're going to stay out here all night," Louis says, lifting up the blankets. "Come share the blankets with me. It's freezing." He says.

Harry gets up from his couch and moves over to Louis'. He sits down and Louis drops the blankets onto his lap. His body relaxes under the warmth. He rests his head on the armrest, and closes his eyes.

Sharing a couch with Louis definitely means they're friends. He's already messed up the promise to himself that he wouldn't become friends with Louis and he's only spent time with him three times.

Which means that they're probably going to become best friends which may lead to Harry possibly liking him. And to like Louis would completely go against the promise that Harry made to himself where he wasn't going to like anybody until he was absolutely sure that they weren't going to leave him.

So Harry goes to sleep telling himself that Louis is just one of his friends who isn't very annoying at all and he probably definitely doesn't like Louis.

~~~~

"Your lack of enthusiasm shocks me." Louis says.

Harry rolls his eyes and picks at the grass that he's sitting on. Louis crawls over to where he's sitting and taps his knee with his toe. "What?" Harry asks. Louis moves to sit cross legged.

"I brought you here so that you wouldn't be so grumpy." He says. "People like parks. It's a thing."

Harry smirks and throws some of the picked grass at Louis. Louis tries to dodge it but ends up getting most of it in his hair. He pouts at Harry and starts shaking it out.

"I wasn't in a grumpy mood!" Harry defends himself. "You just dragged me to a park."

Louis shakes his head. "You have been in a grumpy mood since the day I met you." He says, picking the last of the grass out of his hair. "You probably came out of the womb grumpy. The doctors probably looked at you and thought, "wow now that is a grumpy baby." They didn't say it out loud though they were afraid you would become even more grumpy." He explains, picking some of the flowers in the grass and starting to weave them together.

Harry smiles at the grass. "You've seriously spent three days with me and you act like you know everything about me." He says, picking a few more clumps of grass and putting them into a pile. He sees a couple of the flowers in his pile, and tosses them to Louis.

Louis picks them up from where they landed and weaves them into his chain of flowers. "I can easily see that you're a grumpy person, Harry." He says. "But I don't think we're at that level of friendship yet where I feel like I can ask why."

Harry nods in agreement. "Not yet." He says. "We'll do that whole spilling of the emotions thing another time."

Louis finishes his chain of flowers and ties them so that it created a circle. He grins and places it on Harry's head. "Beautiful." He says, smiling at his work.

"A flower crown?" Harry asks, reaching up and touching the top of his head. Louis nods.

"My sisters taught me how to make them one time. All the cool kids know how." He explains. Harry smiles and leaves the crown on his head. Louis claps all the dirt and grass off his hands. He unfolds his legs and sticks them out so that each foot is touching one of Harry's. "Help me up." He says.

"Were both sitting?" Harry asks. Louis nods.

"Yeah I know." He says. "Here, grab my hands." He instructs, sticking his arms out towards Harry. Harry gives him a confused look, but listens and grabs Louis' hands. "Now hold onto my hands very firmly and stand up."

Harry squeezes Louis' hands and stands up. They both stand up without any trouble. Harry smiles. "That was cool. Using each other as balance and all that." He says.

"It's like a trust exercise but not really." Louis says, brushing grass and dirt off of his pants. He looks up at Harry and his eyes widen. "Bee!" He shrieks, batting his by Harry's head.

Harry jerks his head any from Louis hands and runs to stand behind him. The bee darts towards them and they both go scrambling in different directions. Harry climbs onto the play structure in the center of the park and goes to the very top of it. He watches as Louis does a loop around the structure and climbs up to stand next to him.

"All this over a little bee." He says, laughing. "How old are we?"

"Clearly not as old as we think." Harry says, sitting down on the top step. Louis sits down on the one below it. Louis plays with the frayed threads on the bottom of Harry's jeans. Harry's phone starts buzzing in his pocket. He reaches in and pulls it out. He sees that he has an incoming call from Niall, and accepts. "Hello?" He asks.

"Hey Harry." Niall says on the other line. "You free tonight?" He asks.

Harry glances down at Louis. "Yeah." He says. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking bout inviting a bunch of people over to my place tonight." Niall says. "Bunch of people from college and the usual crowd." He clarifies. Harry smiles.

"Sure." He says. "Sounds fun. Can I bring a friend?" Louis' head perks up. He points at himself and raises an eyebrow. Harry nods.

Niall laughs on the other end. "Hopefully a girlfriend?" He asks. Harry shakes his head, which is a little unnecessary given that he's on the phone.

"Nope. Just a friend. I've been letting him crash at my place for a few days and I think he's missing being around people who aren't me." He jokes.

"It's true." Louis confirms. Harry frowns at him.

"I would too if I were him." Niall says. Harry's jaw drops.

"I don't know why everybody is being rude to me today." He says. Louis smiles.

"It's just cause we love you." Niall says. "Be at my place at 7." He hangs up the phone.

Harry turns off his phone and slides it back into his pocket. Louis stands up from the step and starts walking down the structure Harry follows. Louis stops about halfway down and looks over the railing. "Wanna jump off with me?" He asks. Harry shakes his head.

"No." He says. "Well get hurt."

Louis rolls his eyes. "No we wont. The bark will cushion us." He says, climbing over the railing and standing on the very edge.

Harry climbs over too. "You're crazy." He says, looking down at the ground far below them. Louis smirks.

"You may be right." He says, grabbing onto Harry's hand. "I may be crazy." He jumps off the side of the structure, pulling Harry along with him. They both hit the ground with a loud thud. Harry groans and rolls over onto his back.

"Ouch." He mutters to himself.

"But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for." Louis sings, standing up. He grabs onto Harry's hands and helps him up.

"You quote Billy Joel songs too much." Harry says, brushing the bark off of his shirt. Louis shrugs his shoulders.

"You may be wrong for all I know.  
But you may be right." He says, grinning. Harry rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

He definitely doesn't like Louis.

~~~~

Harry wipes his sweaty palms on the back of his jeans. He normally didn't go to Niall's parties. He just wanted to show Louis that he does have friends, because he doesn't believe him. But now that they're standing on the front steps of Niall's house, all of the memories of their friends from college getting drunk and passing out on top of Harry while he wishes he was anywhere else come rushing back to him.

Louis clearly doesn't have the same concern. He reaches out and knocks on the door. Harry takes a deep breath. Niall opens the door a few moments later. He smiles when he sees Harry and throws his arms around him.

"You actually came." He says. Harry nods and wiggles out of the hug.

"Of course." He says. "I told you I was."

"Yeah well I didn't believe you." Niall admits, turning to look at Louis. "And you actually brought a friend. He's not made up or anything." He sticks out his hand and Louis shakes it. "Hi I'm Niall." He says.

"Louis." Louis says back. Niall smiles and let's go of Louis' hand. He turns back towards the house and motions for them to follow. They walk through his house until they get to the living room. Zayn is the first one to see them.

He elbows Liam in the ribs and points his finger in their direction. Then, he holds out his hand. Liam sighs and digs his hand into his pocket. He pulls out a five dollar bill and places it into Zayn's hand.

"You guys made a bet that I wouldn't come." Harry says, walking over to Liam and Zayn. They look guiltily at each other and nod.

Liam stands up and gives Harry a hug. "We are glad you came." He says.

"We just didn't think you would." Niall adds, plopping down in the spot where Liam had been sitting. He pulls a ten dollar bill out of his pocket and gives it to Zayn. Harry frowns at them.

"Rude." He says. The boys all shrug. Louis smiles uncomfortably and steps forward.

"Hi, I'm Louis." He says. Zayn and Liam smile at him.

"Hi." Liam says. "I'm Liam and this is Zayn." Louis shakes both of their hands and shuffles back to Harry. A girl walks in and grabs Niall's attention. He excuses himself and runs over to talk to her. Liam sits back down in his old spot and places his hands on his lap.

Zayn gets up. "I'm going to get something to drink." He says. "Do you want anything?" Louis and Liam shake their heads. Zayn assumes that Harry won't want one, because he normally doesn't drink, and starts walking away.

"Wait!" He calls after him. "Get me something too please." He asks. Zayn raises an eyebrow, but doesn't question him. Instead, he keeps walking and disappears into the kitchen.

Liam decides that since Zayn didn't question him, that means he should. "You don't drink." He states.

Harry shakes his head. "Sometimes I do." He says.

Liam, thankfully, decides to not question him anymore. "What about you, Louis, do you drink?" He asks.

Louis laughs and shakes his head. "Nope." He says. "I'm the honorary designated driver."

Liam smiles. "Me too!" He says. "I only have one kidney so I can't drink anyway."

Harry decides not to bring up the fact that Liam's missing kidney actually wasn't missing at all, and walks into the kitchen. He sees Zayn holding two glasses filled with whatever alcohol Niall had in his alcohol cabinet. Zayn hands one of the glasses to him. He hesitates, but only for a second, before tipping his head back and downing it all in one go.

When he brings his head back down, Zayn looks impressed. "Didn't know you had it in you." He says, swerving around Harry and walking to the kitchen door. "The cabinet is the last one on your right, if you want any more." He adds before opening the door and joining the party.

Harry sits on Niall's counter top, downing drink after drink until his throat starts to sting and his body starts rejecting every drop of alcohol he tries to force in. That's when he decides it's time to leave the kitchen.

He takes a couple of practice runs, pacing the kitchen and trying to make it look like he's not as drunk as he actually is. However, every run looks a little worse than the last, until he's laying on the floor, giggling into the tile, and trying his hardest to make the room stop spinning.

He's in the middle of trying to get himself off the floor when Louis walks in. He stares at Harry and places his hands on his hips. "You're a mess." He states.

Harry nods and rests his forehead on the cool tile. "I'm drunk." He says.

Louis laughs. "I can tell." He says, squatting down. He grabs both of Harry's arms and throws them over his shoulders. Then, he wraps his arms around Harry's waist and stands up, bringing Harry up with him. Once he's standing, Harry pulls himself over to the counter and leans against it. "Jesus, Harry, how much did you drink?" Louis asks.

Harry groans. "Too much." He admits.

Louis reaches out, grabs one of Harry's arms, and wraps it around his shoulder. "Come on." He says. "Let's go socialize for another twenty minutes and then I'm taking you home." He helps Harry stand up and walk out of the kitchen. Niall sees them and runs over.

"Is he ok?" He asks, moving his face so that it is right in front of Harry's. He breathes in through his nose and grins. "I never thought I'd see the day Harry Styles gets drunk." He says, clapping Harry on the back. Harry glares at him. "He's just as grumpy as he is sober though." Niall adds, ruffling up Harry's hair and running back over to the group of people he was previously talking to.

Louis leads Harry around the house, seeing and talking to as many people as they possibly can. When Harry starts getting tired, Louis decides it's time to leave. They say goodbye to Liam, Niall, and Zayn and walk outside to where Harry parked his car.

Louis helps Harry into the passenger seat, then walks around the car and gets in. "Can I have the keys?" He asks, holding his hand out. Harry nods, and digs his hand into his pocket. He pulls his keys out and places them into Louis' open hand.

Louis starts the car and begins driving home. Harry rests his head on the cool window. When they get to Harry's apartment, Louis helps him out of the car. They walk together to the door and Louis uses Harry's keys to open it.

Harry stumbles clumsily through the living room and lays down on the couch. Louis walks into the kitchen and comes back half a minute later with a giant glass of water.

"Don't go to bed until all of this is gone." He says, handing Harry the glass. Harry tips his hand back and pours some of it into his mouth. He swishes it around in his mouth for a couple seconds before swallowing. "If you drink enough, you wont have a hangover tomorrow."

"I think I'm bound to have one no matter what." Harry says, putting one of his hands up to his temple.

"Yeah well you know." Louis says, throwing himself onto the other couch. "That's what you get for drinking Niall's entire alcohol cabinet."

"This is why I don't drink." Harry complains. Louis laughs.

They both sit in silence for a minute. Louis looks down at his hands and starts picking at his nails. Harry finishes the glass of water and sets it on the coffee table.

"I'm going to get you a blanket, because it doesn't look like you're moving anytime soon." Louis says, standing up and walking into Harry's room. He comes back a few seconds later, dragging Harry's comforter behind him. "Here." He says, spreading it out over Harry's body.

"Thanks." Harry mumbles. Louis nods in response. He sits back down on the other couch and grabs a throw blanket that was crumpled up on the floor.

"Goodnight." He says, curling up under the blanket and resting his head on the armrest.

"Goodnight." Harry says. Louis let's his eyes flutter shut. "Hey Louis?" Harry asks, sitting up slightly and turning towards Louis.

"Mhmm."

"We're friends, yeah?" Harry asks. Louis' eyes open and he cranes his neck around to look at Harry.

The corners of his mouth twitch a little, like he wanted to smile. "Yeah." He says. "We're friends."

Harry nods and pulls his blanket up to his chin. Louis turns his head back around and closes his eyes again.

A few minutes later, Harry can hear him breathing softly from the other couch. And that's when Harry decides that he definitely likes Louis, but only as a friend, and absolutely nothing more.

~~~~

Niall tosses a couple of returned videos at Harry. Harry catches them and places them into the video cart. He pushes the cart around the store and puts the videos back where they belong.

Niall walks over to the cash register and stands behind it. "You know, we're kinda like the librarians of movies." He says, putting his elbow on the counter and resting his head on his hand.

"That's kinda exactly what we are." Harry says, pushing the cart into the comedy section and putting a few movies away.

Niall scrunches his eyebrows together and nods. "Cool." He mumbles to himself.

Liam pulls the door of the store open and walks in. "Good morning everyone." He says, walking into the staff room and setting his backpack down.

"Good morning." Niall returns. Liam walks up to the cash register and opens it. He counts the money inside, making sure it's all there, before closing it and walking into the back room.

"What's he doing?" Harry asks, finishing with the movies and pushing the cart over to the counter.

Niall shrugs. "I don't know, manager stuff." He says.

Harry nods and stands next to Niall behind the counter. Two people walk in and head straight to the romance section. The two boys both perk up, seeing that they might actually get to do their job today.

The couple pick out a few movies and walk to the counter. Harry scans their movies and their total pops up on the computer screen. "That'll be $15.00." He says. The girl pulls a ten and a five out of her wallet and hands it to Harry. "Please come again." He says, hoping it didn't sound like begging out loud like it did in his head.

The couple smile and leave the store. "Hey remember when you charged that guy only $4." Niall says.

"That was only a few weeks ago, so yes." Harry says. Niall nods.

"Yeah that was dumb." Niall says, patting Harry on the back.

Harry laughs. "I definitely should have charged him more given that he never returned the movie." He says, opening the cash register and placing the money inside. "I guess I'll ask him about it when I get home."

Niall snaps his head towards Harry. "Wait, what?" He asks.

Harry raises one of his eyebrows. "That guy was Louis." He states. "I thought you knew."

Niall shakes his head. "I most definitely did not." He says, pushing himself up on the counter and sitting on it. "But I'm not surprised. I knew there was something going on with you and Louis."

Harry's eyes almost bulge out of their sockets. "What?" He asks, hid voice almost cracking. Niall gives him a confused look.

"What?" He asks.

"What do you mean you know there's something going on between me and Louis?" Harry asks. Niall bursts into laughter.

"You mean there's not?" He asks. Harry shakes his head. "Well buddy." Niall says, throwing his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Do I have news for you."

Harry shakes Niall's arm off. "There's not." He whines. "Plus, Louis isn't even gay and neither am I."

"Has Louis ever told you that he's not gay?" Niall asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

Harry sighs. "No." He says, shaking his head. Niall holds up his pointer finger, as if that proved his point.

"Gay until proven straight." He says.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Harry says. Niall laughs.

"Doesn't mean it's not true."

"It's not!" Harry cries.

"Ok." Niall says, hoping off the counter. "It's not." He starts walking towards the back room, probably going to tell Liam.

"You don't believe me." Harry says. Niall grins and shakes his head.

"You're right, I don't." He says, disappearing into the back.

A few minutes, Liam walks out of the back room with Niall at his heels. He lectures Harry for a few minutes about only charging Louis $4 instead of 5 before spinning around and walking back into the back room.

"He wasn't as excited as I wanted him to be." Niall admits.

"I don't like Louis." Harry says.

"And I don't believe you." Niall says, smiling.

~~~~

"Can I use your car tonight?" Louis asks Harry when he gets home from work that day. Harry throws his wallet onto the kitchen counter and tosses his keys to Louis. Louis catches them and drops them on his lap.

Harry kicks his shoes off and sits down on the larger of the two couches. "Why do you need it?" He asks.

"I'm going to get my stuff from Eleanor." He says. "You can come with me if you want, there's a lot of stuff that I have to get, and I need to get my car too so I guess you kinda have to go."

Harry nods. "Sure." He says, leaning back and placing his feet on the coffee table.

Louis smiles and stands up. "Ok, let's go." He says.

Harry groans. "Now? I just got home." He whines. Louis sighs and grabs onto Harry's hands, pulling him up.

"Come on, you don't even have to put your shoes back on." He says. "I'm not going to." Harry decides that that's what he's going to do because just looking at his shoes makes his feet hurt.

Louis smiles and runs to the door. He opens it and pushes Harry out, closing it behind them. They open the garage door and unlock the car. Louis hops into the driver side and waits for Harry to get in.

"Why are you driving?" Harry asks, sitting down and buckling his seatbelt.

"I know where it is." Louis states, putting the key into the ignition and turning it. The car turns on. Louis backs out of the driveway and presses the button on Harry's keys that tells the garage door to close.

Harry reaches forward and turns on the radio. He gets to a station that he likes and turns it down slightly, so that it's just background noise. Louis drums his fingers on the steering wheel as he drives down the street.

"So why did you and your girlfriend break up?" Harry asks, letting curiosity get the best of him.

Louis sighs. "It's kind of a secret." He says. Harry nods.

"Alright." He says, ready to drop the subject.

Louis turns to look at him for a second. "Are you good at keeping secrets?" He asks. "Are you trustworthy and all that."

Harry nods. "Sure." He says. Louis drums his hands on the steering wheel a little bit more. "But you really don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Harry adds, not wanting to make Louis feel uncomfortable.

Louis shakes his head. "No I want to tell you. But I haven't told anybody before, so I'm trying to figure out how to word it." He says. "Give me a second." He pulls up to a red light and stops. A couple seconds later, the light turns green and he starts driving again. Harry waits patiently. "Eh screw it. I'm gay." Louis finally says.

Harry doesn't know how to react. His mind immediately jumps to the conversation he had earlier with Niall. He has no problem with Louis being gay, he knows that for sure, but his brain for reason reason loses the ability to think properly. "Ok." Is all he manages to say.

"Yeah." Louis responds.

And since Louis told Harry his biggest secret, Harry decides that he might as well tell Louis one too. "My girlfriend cheated on me with my best friend. That's why I don't trust people and that's why I don't like having a lot of friends and that's why I'm grumpy." He says. Louis nods.

"So we're at that level of friendship, yeah?" He asks. "The one where we share all our secrets and throw ourselves a pity party."

"Ice cream would be a nice addition." Harry says.

"You have some in your freezer. Maybe we can do that part when we get back." Louis says, chuckling a little. Harry smiles.

"Sounds good." He says.

Louis pulls up in front of a small yellow house and turns the car off.  
He gets out of the car and starts walking up the driveway. Harry follows after him. They get up to the front door and stop. Louis takes a deep breath and knocks on the door.

After a few seconds, a girl opens it. Harry recognizes her from a few weeks ago. She frowns when she sees Louis and crosses her arms.

"What do you want?" She asks.

"My stuff back." Louis answers. She sighs and steps aside, letting Louis into the house.

"You have a half hour." She says. "I have a date and I don't want to be late." She adds, probably trying to make him jealous.

He clearly doesn't care. "Ok." He says, walking into the entry way. He turns back around and faces Harry. "Thanks for driving me, Harry. I'll be home in about 40 minutes." He says.

Harry nods and leaves. He walks down the driveway and gets into the car. Since he wasn't paying attention to where Louis was driving, he has no idea how to get back home, so him and Louis end up getting back at the same time.

He helps Louis bring the boxes of stuff into the house. When everything is inside, Louis pulls his truck into the driveway. Harry walks into his bedroom and changes into pajamas. When he walks back into the living room, Louis is sitting on the couch. Harry sits down next to him.

"You can live here permanently if you want." He says.

Louis shakes his head. "No, I can't. That wouldn't be fair to you." He says. "I don't make enough money to pay for half of your apartment, and that's not even including food and household stuff."

Harry shrugs. "I can't afford it either." He says. "My parents pay for most of it. But if we both chip in and pay, my parents probably won't have to pay for it much at all."

Louis still says no. "We don't even really know each other." He argues.

"I was thinking about getting a roommate anyway." Harry admits. "I really have no problem with you living here. I can turn my office into another bedroom."

"I'll think about." Louis finally says. Harry smiles. "Alright." Louis says, standing up. "I do believe we were in the middle of a pity party. I'm going to get some ice cream and we can continue it." He walks through the living room and disappears into the kitchen, he comes back a few seconds later with a tub of ice cream and two spoons. "Who needs bowls?" He asks, popping the lid off the tub and handing one of the spoons to Harry.

He takes the spoon and digs it into the ice cream. He scoops up a pretty good size chunk and pops it into his mouth. "Well I don't really know what else there is to talk about." Harry says, his mouth full of ice cream. "I thought I was happy, but everything ended up being one being one big lie. That's about it."

Louis nods and scoops up some ice cream. "Dontcha know that only fools are satisfied." He says. Harry rolls his eyes.

"Nows not really the right time to quote songs." He says. Louis puts the spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, pulls the spoon out a second later, and swallows.

"Doesn't mean it's not true." Louis says, waving the empty spoon around. "The only people who are completely happy are the ones who are completely clueless."

Harry scrunches his eyebrows together in confusion. "So you're saying it's my fault?" He asks. Louis shakes his head.

"Of course not." He clarifies. "Your ex girlfriend and ex best friend are idiots and it's their loss, Harry, not yours." He gets another scoop of ice cream and puts it into his mouth. "What I'm saying is, there are tons of other people out there who think they're completely happy. None of them actually are, but even when they realize it, they don't shut everything and everyone out of their life. And neither should you. Don't keep all your emotions all locked up inside because of the fear of people mistreating them again."

Harry looks up at Louis. "I guess I'm just scared. I really do want to go back to the way I was before." He admits.

"Well, you can get what you want or you can just get old." Louis says.

Harry smiles and gets another spoonful of ice cream, ignoring the fact that Louis quoted Billy Joel again. "So, boys." He says, changing the subject.

"Yeah, boys." Louis agrees, getting the last of the ice cream and putting it in his mouth. "They're pretty cool." He adds, getting up and throwing the ice cream away. "Alright, I'm exhausted. We'll move my stuff into the office tomorrow." He says, laying down on the other couch.

Harry's face lights up. "You mean, you're moving in?" He asks.

"Of course." Louis says. "I just pretended that I wanted to think about it to seem polite." Of course.

"Goodnight." Harry says, laying down.

"Goodnight." Louis echoes.

~~~~

Niall talks Louis into forcing Harry to go camping with them. Harry groans and complains and says he's not going to go but on the day of the trip, he caves in. Louis claps his hands and jumps up and down like a little child and pushes Harry into his room to pack. When he's done, Louis grabs both of their bags and throws them into the bed of his truck.

Harry climbs into the passenger seat and buckles his seatbelt. "Why are we going?" He asks.

"Because we like Niall and Liam and Zayn and they want to hang out with us." Louis says, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.

Harry sighs. "We can hang out with them and not have to go camping." He mutters. Louis reaches over and swats him on the arm.

"No whining." He says, putting his hand back on the wheel. Harry frowns, but doesn't say anything.

The car ride is long and quiet because Louis insists that he has to concentrate while driving which Harry knows isn't true, its probably just an excuse to keep Harry from complaining. So, he plugs headphones into his iPod and listens to music the whole way there.

Louis taps him on the shoulder when they're almost there. He pulls his headphones out. "What?" He asks.

"Keep an eye out for Riverwood campsite." He says. Harry puts one of his headphones back in and looks out the window. A couple of streets pass by before he sees a sign for Riverwood.

"Up on your right." He says. Louis smiles and turns onto the street. They pass a couple of campsites before seeing Niall, Zayn, and Liam sitting in fold out chairs in front on three tents. Louis pulls into the campsite and turns the car off. He unbuckles his seatbelt and opens the door.

"You guys set up without us!" He says, getting out and closing the door behind him. Harry gets out and walks behind him.

Niall gets up and jogs over to them. "We weren't sure you guys were gonna show." He says, throwing his arms around Louis. They hug for a few seconds before Niall lets go and walks over to Harry. He hesitates for a second before giving Harry a hug too.

"I love camping." Louis states, walking down to Liam and Zayn. He sits down on the picnic table next to the chairs.

"I know." Niall says. "It was this one I was worried about." He ruffles Harry's hair and pulls away from him. They walk together to the others. Niall sits back down in his chair and Harry sits down next to Louis.

They talk for a few hours. When the conversation dies down, Louis suggests they play truth or dare. The other four laugh about it and make fun of him for a minute, but no one objects, so they end up playing.

"Truth or dare?" Niall asks Louis.

"Dare." Louis says almost immediately. Since the game started, he picked dare every single time.

Niall licks his lips and starts thinking of possible dares. "Umm." He says, tapping his nose with his finger. "I dare you to eat dirt." He says.

Louis laughs. "You're out of dares, Nialler." He says, jumping down from the table and sitting on the ground. He scoops up a handful of dirt and puts some of it into his mouth. He makes a discussed face and swallows. "Yuck." He says, standing up and sitting back down on the table. "Harry, truth or dare?" He asks.

"Hmm... Truth." He says.

"Wimp." Louis teases.

"I don't want to eat dirt." Harry says, defending himself. Louis smiles.

"Fine, fine." He says. "If you had to make out with any of us, who would it be?" He asks. Liam and Niall glance at each other and smile.

Harry thinks about it for a couple seconds. "You of course." He says, bumping Louis' elbow. Zayn laughs loudly and tries to cover it up with a cough.

"Of course." Liam whispers. Louis hears it.

"It's cause I'm hot." He says. Niall rolls his eyes.

"Yeah. Sure." He says. Louis raises his eyebrows.

"Are you saying I'm not?" He asks.

Niall shakes his head. "Of course not, Louis. You're the hottest person I know." He says. Louis nods and points his finger at him.

"And don't you forget it." He says.

They play for a few more rounds, until Harry yawns and checks the time on his phone. He sees that it's almost 11 and decides that it's time that he should go to bed. He gets up from the table, and walks over to Louis truck. He grabs their pillows and sleeping bags out of the bed and throws their two duffle bags over his shoulder.

"You're like Louis' own personal pack mule." Zayn says when Harry returns. Harry frowns at him.

"I thought I'd be nice, since I was over there already." He says.

Louis gets up from the table, walks over to Harry, and grabs his pillow and sleep bag. "And it was much appreciated." He says.

"So what are the sleeping arrangements going to be?" Niall asks, looking at the three tents.

Liam looks at Louis and Harry. "I figured you two wouldn't mind sharing one, and then the three of us can figure out how to divide the other two tents." He says.

Louis shrugs. "Alright." He says. "I'm going to bed." He walks to the tent on the end and unzips it. He climbs in and sits on the ground. Harry says goodnight to the others and climbs in after him.

Once he's inside, he zips the tent back up and turns on his flashlight. Louis rolls out both of their sleeping bags and throws their pillows at the end. They both change into sweats and crawl inside the warm sleeping bags. Louis grabs the flashlight, turns it off, and sets it on the ground next to him.

Harry doesn't know whether he should face Louis or not, so he tosses back and forth until he finds a position he's happy with. "Will you stop moving?" Louis asks.

"The ground is just uncomfortable." Harry says, rolling over to face Louis.

"Yeah, I know." Louis says. "Usually I bring an air mattress." He admits.

Harry chuckles. "Why didn't you this time?" He asks.

"I don't know." Louis says. "Cause it's fun to watch you whine about sleeping on the ground." Harry frowns.

"That's not very nice." He says. Louis giggles. "What?"

"I can feel your breath on my face." He says, moving back a little so they're not as close together. Harry scoots back too.

"Oh, sorry." He says, covering his mouth with his hand so his breath wouldn't hit Louis again.

Louis laughs. "Nah it's fine. I don't really care."

They're quiet for a couple minutes, both trying to fall asleep. Harry listens to Liam, Zayn, and Niall talk outside. Niall says that he doesn't want to sleep with Liam because Liam snores and Liam gets offended and says that he doesn't want to share a tent with Niall anyway. They both fight over Zayn for a minute before Zayn says the should play rock, paper, scissors to figure out who should share the tent.

In the end, they decide to all share one tent with Zayn sleeping in the middle of them. Harry smiles and rolls his eyes. "They're like a bunch of children." Louis whispers.

Harry nods. "They just love each other too much." He says quietly.

"I guess there's nothing wrong with that." Louis says, moving a little closer to Harry. "Hey Harry?" He asks.

"Yeah?"

"I'm freezing. Move over, we're sharing a sleeping bag." He instructs. Harry moves over as much as he can in his sleeping bag. Louis grabs the flashlight and turns it on. "Here." He says, handing it to Harry. Harry takes it from him and points it towards his sleeping bag.

Louis climbs out of his and into Harry's. He grabs the now empty sleeping bag, unzips it, and drapes it across them. Harry turns the flashlight off and drops it on the floor. "Hey Louis?" He asks. Louis mumbles something in response. "Are we best friends?" Harry asks.

Louis sighs and props his head up with his arm. "I guess." He says. "I mean, I thought we were." Harry smiles, so much that he's glad Louis can see.

"I want to be." He whispers.

Louis laughs. "We already are." He says, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry bites the insides of his cheeks to keep himself from smiling.

It's quiet for a couple seconds before Harry asks, "Are you going to quote a Billy Joel song?" He asks.

Louis snorts. "Why would I do that?" He asks.

"Because you always do." Harry answers. Louis snuggles into the sleeping bag so that the top of it covers his nose.

"So come on Virginia. Show me a sign." He mumbles, almost too tired to sing. "Send up a signal; I'll throw you a line.The stained glass curtain you're hidin' behind. It never lets in the sun." He whispers. "You know that only the good die young."

And he goes quiet and is asleep a couple minutes later. A few minutes after that, he scoots even closer to Harry and rests his head on his chest. His breath is soft and constant, so Harry assumes that he's still asleep.

In the morning, Harry wakes up first. He wiggles out of the sleeping back, trying not to wake Louis up. When he's out, he stands up and slips his shoes on. He unzips the tent just enough to fit his body through, then slips out.

Niall is the only other one awake. He smiles when he sees Harry emerge from the tent. "Good morning, Harry." He says, sitting down in one of the fold out chairs.

"Good morning, Niall." Harry says, smiling and sitting down next to him.

"You have a good night?" Niall asks, wiggling his eyebrows. Harry reaches over and pushes Niall shoulder slightly. Niall laughs and pushes his hand away. "No need to get violent." He jokes.

Harry pouts. "Stop that." He whines.

"Stop what exactly?" Niall asks, grinning and leaning back in his chair.

Harry bites his bottom lip and thinks about it for a moment. "Stop acting like me and Louis like each other." He finally says.

"Have you seen you two?" Niall asks, sitting up straight again. "I mean, I know you're oblivious to that kind of stuff usually but seriously you two are like an old married couple."

"We are not." Harry says. He can feel his cheeks starting to grow hot and hopes that Niall can't tell.

Niall can. "Stop blushing, Harry you're embarrassing yourself." He says, leaning forward and poking Harry in the cheek. The spot he pokes goes white for a second before turning back to bright red.

Harry swats his hand away. "Just drop it, ok?" He pleads.

Niall sighs. "Ok, I'll drop it." He says.

"Drop what?" Louis asks, walking up to them and sitting down in the fold out chair next to Harry. Harry's eyes widen and his neck snaps towards Louis.

"Nothing." He says. Louis gives him a confused look, but decides not to press it.

Instead, he looks down at the fire pit. They filled it with wood the night before, but their fire had only burned off about half of it. Louis gets up from his chair and grabs a match off the picnic table. He lights it and tosses it into the fire pit. The fire catches on one of the pieces of wood and the fire roars to life.

"There we go." Louis says, looking proud of himself. He walks back to his chair next to Harry and sits down. He leans forward and warms his hands with the fire.

Niall checks the time on his phone. "I should probably go soon if I want to be home in time for my date." He says, standing up and walking towards his tent.

Louis claps his hands. "Look at you." He says. "Going on dates." Niall nods.

"Unlike you two, I don't want to spend the rest of my life alone." He says, smiling to assure them that he's joking.

Louis chuckles. "Silly Niall. We won't be alone. We have each other." He cheers, reaching over and throwing his arm around Harry's shoulders.

Niall's eyes flicker to Harry. He grins and winks at him, before turning and heading back towards his tent. He wakes up Liam and Zayn and tells them that he's packing up. Zayn stays and helps him while Liam climbs out and joins Harry and Louis.

"You guys started a fire." He states, sitting down in Niall's old spot. Louis' eyes light up.

"We didn't start the fire. It was always burning. Since the world's been turning. We didn't start the fire. No we didn't light it but we're trying to fight it." Louis sings loudly. Harry puts his face into his hand.

Liam stares blankly at Louis for a second, then looks at Harry. "Don't ask." Harry says. "You'll just get him started." Liam nods, thinking it must just be something between the two of them.

"You coming into work tomorrow?" He asks.

"Of course." Harry says, shooting Liam a thumbs up. Liam smiles at him, then goes to help Niall and Zayn pack up their stuff.

Louis shakes his shoulder. "We should probably get going too." He says, standing up. He turns around, grabs Harry's hand, and pulls him up too. They walk to their tent and Harry unzips it. He lets Louis in first.

Louis gathers up all their stuff, and shoves it all into one bag. He zips up the bag, grabs the other one, and hands them to Harry, who takes them to the car.

While he's gone, Louis rolls up their sleeping bags. Harry returns about a minute later and takes them from Louis. Louis grabs their pillows, stands up, and follows Harry to the car. They throw their stuff into the bed of the truck and walk back down to the campsite to say goodbye to the others.

"See you guys tomorrow." Harry says, giving Zayn a hug. Liam joins in and hugs them both.

"See you soon, Louis." Niall says, wrapping his arms around Louis' shoulders. Louis returns the hug.

They spend a couple more minutes saying goodbye, then they leave. They have a minute long argument on who is going to drive, ending with Louis jumping behind the wheel. Harry knew Louis was going to win all along, but he figured there was no harm in trying.

The ride home is a lot better than the ride there because Harry knows that when they arrive at their destination, he can sleep in his warm bed instead of being stuck outdoors. However, his sleeping plans are ruined when he goes home and checks the messages on his house phone.

The first couple are people who are trying to sell him stuff. He's about to give up on his messages and go get changed when the last one starts playing.

"Uh hey Harry, it's me." An all too familiar voice says. Harry's eyes flicker over to the answering machine. His stomach drops. Louis sees him and walks over. "I wanted to see if maybe we could meet up and talk about what happened. It's been almost 2 years and we both miss you a lot. Give me a call when you get this. Bye." The message ends and the answering machine beeps, telling him that he has no new messages.

"Was that your friend?" Louis asks, resting his chin on Harry's shoulder.

Harry nods. "Yeah." He says. "That was him." He picks up the phone and starts dialing the number. Louis takes the phone out of his hands. Harry closes his eyes. "I need that." He says, slowly opening them back up.

"No you don't." Louis says. "They don't deserve your friendship or your forgiveness." He puts the phone down on the counter. "It's been 2 years and they're still controlling your life. You're not calling them back." He turns and walks out of the kitchen.

"The only person controlling me right now is you." Harry snaps. Louis spins back around.

"I'm doing this for your own good?" Louis says, stepping closer to Harry. "You were actually happy for a change. Seeing them again will just ruin everything." Harry grabs the phone off the counter. He pushes past Louis and starts walking to his room.

"Stop telling me what to do." He says as he walks.

"I'm only trying to help you." Louis says quietly.

"Well stop." Harry says, stopping front of the door to his room. He waits a second, to see if Louis will say anything else. When he doesn't, Harry opens the door and steps inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

Louis closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, then walks to his room. He doesn't slam the door, even thought he really wants to, because Harry slammed the door and he doesn't want to be like Harry.

Harry sits on his bed, holding his phone, but making no effort to dial Nicks number. He runs his fingers over the buttons, feeling the bumps on the ones on the bottom. He throws it on the ground in frustration.

After a few minutes, he gets up and walks out of his room. He stands in front of Louis' door for a few seconds before knocking. Louis answers a second later.

"What?" He asks, leaning against the doorframe.

"I'm sorry." Harry whispers, looking down at the ground.

"I'm sorry too." Louis says, stepping aside so Harry can walk into his room. He sits down on his bed and crosses his legs. Harry does the same.

Harry runs his fingers over the patterns on Louis' quilt. "I didn't call them. Too scared." He admits. Louis leans back and rests his back on the bed frame.

"Scared of what?" He asks.

Harry shrugs. "I don't know. I guess that I wouldn't know what to say when I actually talked to them."

Louis smiles and picks at a loose thread on his pants. "I know what you could say." He says.

Harry leans forward. "What?" He asks.

Louis lets a giggle out. "And you can speak your mind but not on my time." He says. Harry sits back and looks at him, confused. " I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life." And by that point, Harry knows what Louis is doing. He tries to look annoyed, but can't helping smiling at him. Louis smiles back and sings louder.  
"Go ahead with your own life and leave me alone."

And that's when Harry decides that he might actually like Louis. And maybe not like. Maybe love. But just as a friend. But maybe not.

~~~~

"Do you want to go have breakfast with my grandma?" Louis asks, about a week later. Harry usually doesn't like meeting parents, especially grandparents, but since it's Louis, he decides to go.

Louis' grandma is really nice. She smells like perfume and cookies and her house has the plastic coverings on the furniture. When they first get there, she gives them both hugs and immediately tells them to eat.

She makes them blueberry pancakes and Harry eats them even though he doesn't like blueberries. And when Harry says he's full, she piles 3 more pancakes onto his plate and tells him to keep eating.

"He said he's full, nan." Louis says. His grandma shakes her head.

"Growing boys like you can never get enough food." She says, putting another pancake on Louis' plate. "And I made too much and I'll eat them if you don't."

Louis stabs his fork into the pancake and rips off a bite. "Then you should eat them." He says, putting the pancake in his mouth.

She shakes her head. "Oh no I've had enough to eat this morning." She says, patting her stomach. The phone rings. "Excuse me." She says, stepping up from the table and leaving the kitchen.

Louis swallows his bite of pancake. "Watch this." He says, whistling. A small dog runs in a second later. "Hi." He says, petting the dog. "You hungry?" He asks. The dog jumps around Louis' feet and wags it's tail excitedly. "Here you go." He says, taking Harry's plate and setting it on the floor. The dog starts eating. Louis finishes the pancake on his plate and puts the plate in the sink.

The dog finishes the pancakes, so Harry takes the plate from him and passes it to Louis, who puts it in the sink. "Will her feelings be hurt if she finds out we didn't eat them?" Harry asks.

"I've been feeding my extra food to Misty for years." He says, squatting down and petting her again. She jumps up onto his lap and rests her head on his knee.

Harry can hear his grandmother hang up the phone. She walks back into the kitchen a few moments later. "Sorry about that." She says, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "It was your mother, Louis. She wants to have lunch with you soon."

Louis nods. "Ok I'll call her when we get back home." He says. She smiles and places her hands together on top of the table.

"It's so great that you found a good place to live." She says, looking at Harry. "But it's such a shame that things didn't work out between you and Eleanor. She was a lovely girl." Harry had been wondering up until that point, if Louis told her he was gay. Clearly he hasn't.

Louis shrugs. "She just isn't who I'm looking for." He says. Harry almost snorts. Louis smirks at Harry when his grandma isn't looking.

She rubs her fingers over the top of her hand. "I just want you to be happy, Louis, you know that." She says. Louis picks the dog off his lap and sets her down on the floor. She licks his hand and runs away. He stands up and sits down in the chair next to Harry's.

"I know that." He says. "And I am happy. I promise." He reaches across the table and places his hand on hers.

She smiles and squeezes his hand. "Good." She says, standing up. "I'm going to take Misty for a walk. You boys can come with us if you want."

Louis shakes his head. "Nah I think we'll stay here. I'm going to show Harry around for a little while, then I think we will head home." He says.

She smiles, but looks a little disappointed. "Ok." She says, getting up and walking to Harry's chair. "It was nice meeting you, Hun." She says, bending over and giving him a hug. "You come back whenever you want." Harry smiles and hugs her back.

Louis stands up. His grandmother lets go of Harry and walks up to Louis. "Nice to see you, nan." He says, leaning forward and giving her a hug. She wraps her arms around him and hugs him back.

"They miss you." She whispers into his ear. He pulls away.

"I know." He says. She puts her hand on his shoulder, then grabs the dog leash off the counter and leaves the room.

Harry waits until he hears her walk out the front door before he speaks. "Everything alright." He asks, after she closes the front door.

Louis nods. "Family stuff." He answers. "Nothing to be worried about." Harry doesn't believe him but decides to drop the subject for the time being. "Hey wanna see my favorite part of the house?" Louis asks, trying to change the subject.

"Sure." Harry says. Louis grins. He reaches out, grabs Harry's wrist, and pulls him into the living room. He drags him over to a piano and sits down at the bench. He moves over far enough so Harry can sit down too. Harry sits down and places his fingers on the keys. He plays When the Saints Go Marching In, because it's the only song he's knows and he wants to show off.

Louis chuckles. "So full of talent." He says. Harry blushes.

"Can you play?" He asks.

Louis nods. "Yeah but I'm not very good." He says. Harry bumps Louis' elbow with his.

"Play me something." He insists. Louis laughs and shakes his head. "Come on." Harry urges. Louis still says no. Harry sighs and begins to sing. "Sing us a song you're the piano man. Sing us a song tonight. Well we're all in the mood for a melody and you've got us feeling alright."

Louis smiles and bites his bottom lip, recognizing the song. He takes a deep breath, then starts to play. He starts off slowly, gently pressing down each key, but gets faster as the song goes on. "It's nine o'clock on a Saturday. The regular crowd shuffles in. There's an old man sitting next to me." He sings, bumping his knee with Harry's. "Making love to his tonic and gin."

Harry smiles at Louis and starts singing the next part with him. "He says, "Son can you play me a memory. I'm not really sure how it goes. But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete. When I wore a younger man's clothes"

Louis keeps playing for a few more seconds and lets his fingers slowly come to a stop. The music stops and they are sitting in silence. "I haven't seen parents since they got divorced about a year ago." He whispers.

Harry turns his body on the bench so that he can face Louis. "Why?" He asks.

Louis taps the last key a couple of times. "They always fought." He explains. "And then after they got divorced they fought even more. I didn't want to stick around for that." He plays the first four notes of When the Saints Go Marching In.

"You should call them." Harry says.

"Why should I?" Louis asks, hitting the keys on the piano. "They made no effort to contact me. They had my cell number and they had Eleanor's. It's been almost a year and this is the first time I've heard from them." He says, swinging his legs around the bench and standing up.

Harry turns around and rests his head on the piano. "But they're family." He says. "You need them."

Louis shakes his head and paces back and forth. "No I don't." He insists. "I don't need anyone." And that hurts a little bit because Harry had wanted Louis to need him, because he definitely needed Louis. Louis sees Harry lower his eyes. "Except you." He says. "I do need you."

It makes Harry feel a little better, but he knows it isn't true. "No you don't." He says. "I need you but you don't need me. You can step outside for two seconds and make handfuls of friends. I can't do that. I'm replaceable. But you only get one family and right now you don't have one." He runs his fingers over some of the piano keys, trying to avoid eye contact with Louis.

Louis stops pacing and stares at Harry. "I do have a family." He says. "I have you, Niall, Liam, and Zayn. You guys are more of a family than my real one. They wouldn't except me if they knew who I was." He admits. Harry looks up.

"They wouldn't?" He asks.

"Nope." He says, sitting down next to Harry. "And that's not a problem for me, because I already cut them out of my life."

"Then why did we come here for breakfast?" Harry asks.

Louis takes a deep breath. "Because she was always nice to me." He says, letting the air out. "And she always let me stay here whenever my parents were fighting."

Harry moves his hand across the piano bench until it's sitting next to Louis'. He hesitates, but only for a second, before picking up his hand and lacing their fingers together. Louis leans to the side and rests his head on Harry's shoulder.

"You have me." Harry says. Louis smiles and runs his thumb over Harry's knuckle.

"I know." He says quietly. Harry bites the inside of his lip. He uses his free hand to run his fingers over the bench. "Harry?" Louis asks, lifting his head up off Harry's shoulder.

"Yeah?" Harry asks, turning to look at him. He is only facing Louis for half a second before Louis leans forward and presses his lips onto Harry's. It takes Harry by surprise. He jerks back a little, but leans forward again when his brain realizes that is happening. He tries to stop himself from smiling, because he knows that he can smile after the kiss is over, and now he has to focus on kissing Louis back.

Louis pulls away first. Too soon, in Harry's opinion. He puts his hand up to his mouth and lightly touches two of his fingers to his lips. "I'm sorry." He whispers.

Harry's still too in shock to really process what's going on. "It's ok." He manages to get out.

Louis shakes his head and stands up. He walks to the other end of the room and leans against the wall. "No." He says. "It's not. I'm so sorry. I was upset and alone and you where here and I wasn't in control."

Harry stands up and starts walking towards him. Louis immediately puts his hands out to stop him. "Louis I'm not mad." He insists.

"But you should be." Louis says, almost yelling. "We're best friends, Harry. But that's it. I'm sorry for kissing you and that's the end of it." He says, his voice getting quieter. "Let's go." He walks out of the room and to the front door. Harry follows behind him.

They walk out of the house and close the door behind them. Louis let's Harry walk a little bit ahead of them on their way to the car. He lets Harry drive them home, which is something that he never does.

When they get back, Louis goes into his room and doesn't come out for the rest of the day. Harry throws himself down on the couch and half watches whatever is on the E! Network until his eyelids get heavy and his vision goes blurry and he falls asleep.

~~~~

Niall tosses his wallet in the air, a couple seconds later, it comes back down and lands in his hands. He slides it into his pocket and nudges Harry with his elbow. "I'm bored." He says.

Harry taps the counter with his fingers. "Yeah, me too." He admits. "And it's been a busy day." He adds.

Niall leans against the wall. He stares out at the almost empty parking lot. Zayn walks by pushing the return cart even though there's nothing in it. Harry assumes he's probably just trying to look busy so that Liam won't make him actually work.

Niall groans. "I want to go home." He complains.

And Harry decides that it's as good a time as any to tell Niall what's been bothering him all day. "Louis kissed me." He says quickly.

Harrys surprised Niall's neck didn't break off because of the speed he turns to look at Harry. "W-what?" He stutters. Zayn hears him, ditches the cart, and runs over to them.

"What happened?" He asks.

"Harry made out with Louis." Niall shrieks. Harry's eyes widen.

"What! No!" He says. Liam walks in and sees them all crowded around the register.

"What's going on?" He asks.

"Louis and Harry are together." Zayn tells him.

Harry waves his hands in the air. "No. No. No." He says. All three of their faces drop. "I just said he kissed me."

Niall points his finger at Harry. "But did you kiss him back?" He asks.

Harry sighs. "Yes." He says. They all burst into cheers. Niall slaps Harry on the back.

"I knew it." He says, clapping his hands together. "I knew you guys liked each other."

"He hasn't talked to me since." Harry says. "He doesn't want to be anything more than friends." He looks down at his hands, then shoves them into his sweatshirt pockets.

Niall rolls his eyes. "Are you blind?" He asks. Harry looks up at him and frowns. "Don't look at me like that Harry, you know he likes you. And even as much as you like to tell yourself you don't, you like him too."

Harry's about to say there's nothing going on between him and Louis when Zayn decides to chime in. "And you're happier than I've seen you in a very long time. Maybe even ever. You actually went camping with us."

"You went to my party." Niall cuts in.

"You went to Niall's party." Zayn agrees. "And you're actually living life again instead of just letting it pass by." Harry groans and leans forward to rest his head on the counter.

"So go home and ask Louis out." Liam finishes. They all smile at each other and mentally high five.

"Why are you guys cornering me?" Harry mutters into the counter. "I'm not gonna go ask him out." He adds. He can practically hear Niall's shoulders drop.

He feels a hand on his shoulder. He takes a deep breath and lifts his head up. Liam pulls him into a hug. Niall hands him his Starbucks gift card. "Go get some coffee, then we can start this day over again." He says.

Harry takes it from him. "With no talk of Louis?" He asks.

"With no talk of Louis." Niall confirms. Harry smiles and walks to the door. "You know all our orders." Niall adds. Harry nods and leaves the store.

He walks to Starbucks, which is something he never does, but the weather is nice and the longer he takes to get coffee, the less he has to work. It's a little chilly, so he zips up his sweatshirt and pulls his hood over his head. He hopes that he looks scary enough for people not to approach him, but the curls probably make him less intimidating.

It takes him about seven minutes to get to Starbucks and he knows that if he is slow on the way back, he can stretch the seven minutes to ten. He opens the glass door and is greeted by the comforting smell of coffee. He gets in line and waits.

A few minutes into his wait, someone walks in and stands behind him. Two people get up and leave the Starbucks and the person behind him bumps into him a little in an attempt to get out of the way of the door. "Sorry." He says.

And Harry recognizes the voice and slightly curses himself for walking because if he drove he would probably be back at work by now. "It's ok." He says.

"Harry?" The person asks. Harry sighs, pulls down his hood, and turns around. Nick smiles when he sees Harry's face. "Hi." He says.

"Hey." Harry mutters.

Nick sighs. "Why are you still mad at me?" He asks, sounding incredibly whiny and making Harry wish the people in front of him would order faster.

"You slept with my girlfriend." He states. "I think I have a reason to still be angry. How is she by the way?" He asks, hoping he sounds as bitter as he feels.

Nicks smile drops. "Umm well, actually, I broke up with her when I met my... Boyfriend." He says.

Harry laughs a little to himself and looks down at his shoes. "Perfect." He says sarcastically. "Just perfect."

The person in front of him finishes ordering and goes to sit at a table. Harry jumps at the chance to exit the conversation. "Hi what can I get you today?" The girl behind the counter asks. Harry quickly orders the four drinks and decides to get himself a coffee cake because he's been having a really long day and he deserves it.

He gives her his name and Niall's Starbucks card. She scans it and hands it back to him a few seconds later. Harry steps out of line and almost sprints to an empty stool with no empty seat next to it and hopes that Nick will take the hint.

He doesn't, of course, and stands next to Harry's stool, going on and on about his boyfriend until Harry is annoyed enough to spin around and get him to change the topic. "Why did you sleep with her?" He asks.

Nick bites the inside of his cheek and thinks. "I don't know." He finally says. "I was confused and wanted to convince myself that I was straight." He admits.

And that makes Harry even more angry. "So you didn't even like her?" He asks.

Nick takes a step back. "I mean, yeah. We're still really good friends. I definitely like her but not in a romantic way."

"You've got to be kidding me." Harry chuckles. The girl calls his name, calling him over to pick up his drinks. He's never been so happy to hear his name. He jumps out of the seat, pushes past Nick, and walks quickly over to pick up the drinks. He puts them into a carrier, and makes a beeline to the door. Nick grabs his arm and stops him.

"I know you don't understand, but please forgive me?" Nick pleads.

"Please, Nick. I didn't need to sleep with someone else's girlfriend to know I wasn't straight." He says bluntly. That throws Nick off enough for him to let go of Harry's arm, but Harry's so in shock that he actually admitted it out loud that he doesn't run away.

"You're acting childish." Nick says.

And something comes over Harry. He's not sure what it is. Maybe it's because he's angry, or maybe because he's been listening to Billy Joel songs on repeat ever since Louis stopped talking to him. But it's probably because it's what Louis told him to do, and he always listens to Louis. "I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life." He sings."Go ahead with your own life and leave me alone."

And Nick doesn't understand because he's not Louis. Harry takes a sip of Zayns drink because it's the only one with a straw and he wants to look sassy.

The girl behind the counter calls his name. He hesitates, knowing that if he leaves to go get his drink, Harry will leave.

He's right. After Nick decides that Harry's not going to forgive him, Harry leaves. He walks back to the video store as quickly as he can and gets back in only 5 minutes.

Niall takes the drink carrier from him when he walks in. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He says, taking his drink out and taking a sip. Zayn walks out of the staff room. He sees the drinks and runs over.

"Nick was there." Harry spits out. Niall almost chokes on his drink.

"What?" Zayn asks. Taking his drink and putting the straw up to his lips.

Harry nods. "He wanted to talk." He says.

"Well did you talk?" Niall asks.

Harry shrugs. "Kind of. I didn't really want to talk to him and everything he said made me mad."

"You should be mad." Zayn says. "What he did was terrible."

"Yeah." He says, walking into the staff room. He grabs his phone and wallet off the table. He pats his pocket, making sure his keys are in there.

"Where are you going?" Niall asks when Harry opens the front door of the store and walks out.

"Home." Harry answers. Niall wants to ask questions, but lets him go instead.

He runs to his car and opens the door. He pulls his keys out of his pocket and picks out the one that goes to his car. He shoves it into the ignition and turns it to the right. The car turns on. He throws his seatbelt on, closes the door, and pulls out of the parking lot.

The ride home is both long and stressful and it gives Harry too much time to think about what he's doing and how scary it is. He turns onto his street and into his driveway. He gets out of the car, takes a deep breath, and walks into the house.

"Louis?" He calls. There's no answer, which doesn't surprise Harry, given that Louis' been ignoring him for days. He walks up to Louis' bedroom door and debates for a second whether or not he should knock.

He decides not to and just walks in. Louis is fast asleep on his bed, which completely messes with Harry's plan.

He sadly walks out of Louis' room and into his own. His burst of confidence is gone and all he's left with is sadness and hunger because he left both his coffee and his coffeecake on the counter of the video store.

And his last thought before he falls asleep is that he actually really likes Billy Joel and that he's kind of in love with Louis.

~~~~

A week after Harry almost tells Louis he's in love with him, Louis starts talking to him again. He chooses to not tell him, not wanting Louis to ignore him again. Niall does not approve.

12:12  
To: Harry  
From: Niall

Hey whatchu doin??

Harry sighs and types back a response.

12:12  
To: Niall  
From: Harry

Watching tv with Louis

And he knows that including Louis in the text will make Niall go insane but at this point he's going insane inside every time he's with Louis and he's done trying to stop Niall from talking about it. It takes Niall a couple minutes to reply, so Harry sets his phone down next to him on the couch.

Louis looks over and smiles. "This is my favorite movie." He says, turning up the volume up. Harry didn't even know what movie they were watching, so he looks up and sees that Grease is on.

"It's a good movie." He says. He watches it until his phone buzzes from its spot on the couch. Harry picks it up and reads the message from Niall.

12:21  
To: Harry  
From: Niall

Tell him!!!!

And Harry has another burst of confidence, probably because Sandy and Danny are singing You're the One That I Want and if the two of them can admit they have feelings for each other and are confident enough to sing about it, Harry can tell Louis that he loves him.

12:22  
To:Niall  
From: Harry

Ok.

He takes a deep breath, sets his phone down, and turns toward Louis. "Hey Louis?" He asks.

He can see a little bit of panic shoot through Louis' eyes and he chooses to ignore it. "Yeah?" Louis asks, keeping his eyes on the tv.

And he decides to just go for it. "I'm in love with you." He says, slowly, not wanting to have to repeat it.

Louis looks down, then over at Harry. "I wish you weren't." He says.

"Why?" Harry asks, getting a little upset because telling Louis that he loved him is probably the scariest thing he's ever done and he's getting almost no reaction from Louis.

Louis sighs and mutes the tv. "Because I'm not worth it." He says.

Harry laughs. "Not worth it?" He asks. "Are you kidding me?" Louis shakes his head. "Louis, if anyone isn't worth it, it's me. I'm a grumpy person with a dead end job and almost no friends. When I do make jokes, they're terrible and I am a bit of a neat freak and I'm in love with you." He says.

Louis twirls his thumbs around each other for a second. "Having a dead end job is better than not having a job at all." He says. "And I don't trust people and when I start to feel like I can trust people, I leave them."

Harry shrugs. "So we're both a little messed up." He says. "I said I love you and that's forever. And this I promise from my heart. I couldn't love you any better. I love you just the way you are."

Louis blushes and tries to cover it with his hand. "How do you know that song?" He asks.

Harry smiles and laughs and tries not to look as stressed out as he actually is. "I always know when you're quoting Billy Joel, Louis. I'm a bigger fan of his than you think I am."

Louis smiles and leans forward and gives Harry a quick kiss on the lips. He pulls away before Harry has time to kiss him back. "So does this mean you're kinda my boyfriend?" He asks.

"I think I kinda am." Harry confirms.

Louis moves closer to him on the couch and holds his hand. He unmutes the tv and they continue watching Grease. Harry feels his phone vibrate, but makes no effort to pick it up. He can tell Niall in the morning.

~~~~

"Harry, pass me that blanket by your leg." Niall says, pulling his legs up to his chest and hugging them. "I'm freezing over here."

Harry leans forward and grabs the blanket. He bundles it up into a ball and tosses it to Niall. It opens up while in the air and leans on Niall's head. Harry smirks.

"We could go upstairs and sleep up there, it's always warmer than downstairs." He states. Liam shakes his head.

"Not until we can lock that door." He says, pointing to the glass door.

Zayn sighs. "It was probably just a cow." He says. "And even if it was a murderer, he's probably gonna murder us no matter where we're sleeping." Liam shoots him a glare.

Louis scoots across the carpet until he's next to Harry. He leans his head on his shoulder and smiles fondly at the other boys.

Niall pulls the blanket around his shoulders. "Maybe he will be intimidated when he sees that there's 5 of us." He suggests.

Harry laughs loudly. The others turn and look at him. "It's not like we're that much of a threat."

They all nod in agreement. "I guess we're sleeping down here." Louis says. He stands and walks over to the closet. He pulls out a couple more blankets and pillows and tosses them to the others.

They all pick their spots to sleep. Louis and Harry share the biggest blanket. The others make fun of them for a second about it. Niall tells them to get a room. Harry says that he would gladly get a room, since they're warmer. Niall begs them to stay, saying that they need strength in numbers.

Liam grabs the remote off the couch and turns on the tv. They through the channels for a couple minutes before Zayn insists they watch some documentary about whales.

"Why?" Louis asks, pulling the blanket up so that it covers his very cold nose.

Zayn turns the volume of the tv up a little. "I heard it was good." He says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Whales are cute." Niall decides, laying down on his belly and looking up at the tv.

Harry cries during the first half hour of the movie. Louis only makes fun of him a little bit. When Harry pouts, Louis kisses him on the nose, which makes the others roll their eyes and turn their attention back towards the tv.

They watch how Seaworld is torturing the whales and how it's not the whales fault that they're eating people. By the end of it, they're on the side of the whales.

"Seaworld sucks." Niall declares when the movie is over.

"Yeah!" They all shout.

"Wow we're cool." Zayn says, wrapping his blanket around his legs. Louis laughs.

"Hey let's be free the whales people." Harry suggests.

Niall smiles. "We can stand on street corners with our signs."

"And wear Seaworld sucks shirts while standing at the entrance of Seaworld." Louis adds.

"This is a great plan." Liam says. They all agree. Harry excuses himself and goes into the kitchen to get himself a drink. Niall follows.

Harry grabs a glass out of one of the cabinets and hands it to Niall. Niall takes and brings it over to the sink. Harry grabs another one for himself. They fill their glasses up in the sink and are about to head back into the living room when Niall grabs Harry's arm.

"Hey." He says.

"Hey." Harry replies.

"You're happy." Niall says, smiling.

Harry blushes and looks down at the black and white tiles on the floor. "Yeah." He says. "I am."

"Good." Niall says, patting him on the back. "I missed happy Harry." He takes a sip of his water, and dumps the rest out in the sink. "I wasn't really thirsty." He admits, walking back into the living room.

Harry grins and takes a sip of his water. He stays in the kitchen for a couple more minutes, watching them argue about what they should watch. Zayn and Liam bicker until Louis steps in and takes the remote. He turns on Netflix and scrolls through the movies.

Harry sets the glass down in the sink and walks back into the living room. He sits down next to Louis and pulls the blanket up over his knees. Louis clicks on another whale documentary and no one complains, so he sets the remote down on the ground next to him and lays down.

They others are asleep within the hour. Harry's eyes are about to close when he feels Louis tap his leg with his toe. He rolls over to face him. "Yeah?" He asks.

"Let's go swimming." He says, sitting up. Harry clings to the blanket.

"It's almost 3 in the morning." He says. Louis pulls the blanket off of him.

"Ok." He says. "Let's go night swimming."

Harry rolls over and digs his face into the carpet. "It's freezing cold." He says, trying to get Louis to change his mind.

It stumps Louis for a couple of seconds. "I saw a hot tub." He says. "Let's go in there."

And that's when Harry realizes that there's no way that he's getting out of going swimming, so he sits up. "Fine." He says. Louis claps his hands, and gets up. He runs up stairs, probably to put on his bathing suit.

Since they're at Harry's stepdads bungalow, Harry's stuff is in his room downstairs. He gets up and walks down the halls. He reaches his room and pushes the door open. His bathing suit sits balled up on his floor, still slightly damp from when they went swimming earlier.

He slowly sheds his clothes, then quickly pulls on his bathing suit. Since it's damp, it's even colder than it should be and Harry has to try his hardest to keep his teeth from chattering.

He runs through the living and braces himself before opening the glass door and stepping out on the cold, hard patio.

He walks to the hot tub and pulls the cover off of it. Some water splashes onto him and it's so cold that Harry's surprised it didn't turn to ice. He turns the jets on and the water starts warming up.

By the time Louis is done changing, it's warm enough to sit in. Louis smiles and quickly runs across the patio. He gives Harry a quick kiss on the cheek, before climbing up the steps of the hot tub and stepping into the water. Harry climbs in after him.

His toes tingle from the sudden change in temperature. He sinks down in the hot tub until the water is covering everything except for his head.

Louis puts his head underwater and comes back up a minute later. He shakes his head and water flies everywhere. He pushes his wet hair out of his face and smiles at Harry. "See?" He says. "Swimming is fun."

"It's a lot more fun during the daytime." Harry states.

Louis laughs. "Don't be grouchy." He says. "Wanna find constellations in the sky?" He asks, trying to find something that will take Harry's find off of how cold his is.

"Sure." He says, laying down and floating on his back. Louis does the same. They both look up at the stars.

"See those right there." Louis says, pointing at a clump of stars. "That's a hippo riding a unicorn."

Harry doesn't see it but he doesn't say anything. He looks at the stars until he finds the Big Dipper. "That's the Big Dipper." He says.

"You're not very creative." Louis says, nudging Harry with his elbow. Harry looks at him and smiles, then looks back up at the stars. One goes shooting across the sky.

Harry gasps and sits up, almost going underwater in the process. "Was that a shooting star?" He asks.

Louis giggles and nods his head. "Yeah." He confirms. "Have you never seen one before?" He asks.

Harry lays back down and floats again. "Nope." He says. "They're cool."

Louis smiles. "Yeah." He says. "They are."

They look at the stars together until their fingers and toes look like grapes and they start to see the sun coming up. Louis' the one who jumps out of the hot tub first. His teeth chatter from the cold.

"Where are the towels?" He asks.

Harry looks awkwardly down at the water and splashes the it a little bit with his hands. "I forgot to get them." He says.

Louis sighs. "Well get out of the hot tub cause I'm not gonna wait for you much longer." He says.

Harry takes a deep breath before jumping out of the hot tub as fast as he can. He pulls the cover back on the top of it and turns the jets off. They both run into the house, tiptoeing quietly past the others.

Louis takes off upstairs to go put his warm pajamas back on. Harry sprints to his room. Since his room is the smallest in the house, and it's in the very back, it gets warmer than all the other ones.

He sheds his bathing suit as fast as he possibly can, and quickly pulls on a pair of boxers. His body starts warming up the second his bathing suit is off.

He walks to his closet and pulls out his warmest pair of pajama pants. He knows they'll be too warm when he wakes up, but that's a bridge he'll cross when he gets to it.

There's a bathroom connected to his room that's full of towels, so he grabs one and starts to dry his hair. He debates putting it up, but knows that if Louis walks in and sees it, he'll never hear the end of it.

He brushes his teeth and splashes water on his face, trying to wake himself up a little more. By now, his body is back to a normal temperature and is ready to sleep.

He's about to go back out into the living room when there's a knock at his door. "Come in." He says quietly. Louis steps in a moment later. He closes the door behind and jumps onto Harry's bed. "I was just about to go back into the living room." He says.

"You can go sleep in the cold living room." Louis says. "But I'm sleeping in here."

Harry looks at the door, then back at Louis. It's pretty easy to choose between sleeping by himself on the floor in a cold living room or sleeping with Louis in a bed in the warmest room in the house.

He crawls into bed next to Louis and lays his head down on one of the pillows. Louis cuddles up next to him. "Hi." He whispers.

"Hi." Harry whispers back.

They both lie there silently for a few minutes, both wanting to fall asleep. But Harry's more awake than ever and Louis wasn't tired in the first place.

"I'm glad I met you." Harry mumbles. Louis blushes and turns his head into the pillows so that Harry can't see.

"I'm glad I met you too." He says into a pillow. Harry smiles and bites his lip. He wants to say 'I love you' again but he hasn't said it since they've gotten together and Louis hasn't said it at all, so he keep his mouth shut.

Louis removes his head from the pillows and turns it back towards Harry. He searches for his hand underneath the covers and holds it when he finds it.

He keeps hold of Harry's hand and rolls onto his back so that he can look at the ceiling. "If this were a movie." He says. "This would be the part where the camera zooms out and the credits start rolling."

Harry chuckles and rolls onto his back too. "Why right now?" He asks.

"Because we're both happy." Louis explains. "And right now everything seems perfect and that's when the movie ends."

Harry nods. "What song plays during the credits?" He asks.

Louis thinks about it for a few seconds before answering. "Uptown Girl. Because I always sing Billy Joel songs."

Harry shakes his head. "It wouldn't be Uptown Girl, because both of us are guys and we both live in the not so nice part of town."

"I was going for irony." Louis says.

Harry laughs. "I don't think the public would see it as irony, I think they'd all get confused." He says. Louis rolls his eyes.

"Alright then." He says, turning on his side so that he can face Harry again. "You pick a song."

Harry thinks about all the songs he knows and which one would fit best in the ending credits of their movie. "What about Keeping The Faith?" He asks.

Louis thinks about it for a couple of seconds. "It's perfect." He says. "And everyone would come see our movie and it would win tons of awards."

"And we would travel the world promoting it and we would be hollywoods it couple." Harry adds.

Louis smiles. "We would be the hottest couple ever." He says. Harry nods his head in agreement.

They're quiet for another couple minutes, both out of stuff to say and both starting to get really tired. Louis closes his eyes and stays perfectly still. Harry thinks he has fallen asleep when he hears him take a deep breath. "I love you." He says, opening his eyes and looking up at Harry.

Harry feels his heart skip a beat and he almost forgets how to speak. "I love you too." He says back. Louis smiles and tilts his head up, pressing a kiss onto Harry's lips. This time, Harry kisses back.

It's his favorite of all their kisses and he's a little disappointed when Louis pulls away.

He wants to kiss him again but he's a little too tired for that, so he presses his forehead to Louis'. Their noses bump into each other and they look straight into each other's eyes and that's when Harry decides that maybe blue isn't such a bad color after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it!


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